A Guernsey, UK-based company with an open-ended gold deposit near Armstrong believes it has a "multi-million-ounce" resource on its hands.
Landore Resources recently posted a new resource estimate of its BAM Gold Project that boosts the gold count by almost 50 per cent to 1.5 million ounces.
For the last two years, Landore has drilled more than 24,000 metres to fill in the gaps of its potential open-pit mine, as well as push the boundaries of where the gold mineralization goes.
The new resource estimate is 1,496,000 ounces at 1.0 gram per tonne, up 481,000 ounces, or 47 per cent, from the last estimate of 1,015,000 ounces posted in early 2020.
Of that, 1,029,000 ounces at 1.0 grams per tonne is in the indicated category, while 467,000 ounces at 0.8 grams per tonne is inferred. The cut-off is 0.3 grams per tonne.
A preliminary economic assessment of the BAM deposit placed a mine life scenario ranging from six to nine years with two open-pit mines. This latest batch of results adds some longevity as the company ramps up to do more exploration this year.
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Landore picked Cube Consulting of Perth, Australia to complete the estimate based on drilling results from 102 holes drilled in 2020 and 2021. The estimate will be folded into a prefeasibility study for the mine planning that Landore expects to start later this year.
Gold mineralization around BAM trends to the east, west and deeper down.
The deposit sits in the southern part of Landore's larger 30,500-hectare Junior Lake property, 75 kilometres northeast of Armstrong and 235 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.
The property sits on a mineral-rich Archean greenstone belt, running east to west for 31 kilometres and between 0.5 kilometres to 1.5 kilometres wide. Most of this belt, Landore said, remains unexplored. Junior Lake also hosts a two separate deposits containing nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group metals, plus numerous other precious and base metal occurrences.
The deposit is very shallow with continuous gold extending from just beneath the glacial till at surface down to a maximize depth of 380 metres. The gold envelope runs from a minimum mining width of two metres to 50 metres.
Landore said drilling will resume in the second quarter to expand the pit, explore several potential underground targets, and chase some gold extensions to the west of the deposit.
In a news release, Landore CEO Bill Humphries said company directors are "delighted" with the drilling results, averaging a discovery rate of 21 ounces of gold for every metre drilled.
"These results further support Landore's belief that the highly prospective Junior Lake Property has the potential to host multi-million ounce gold resources.
"The 2020-2021 drilling programme was completed against a particularly challenging backdrop, which required implementing and maintaining a high COVID-19 protocol and awareness throughout. The success of the program is once again a testament to the skill and high standards of Landore's exploration team."
The site is road accessible and is about 10 kilometres from where a proposed hydro-electric station is slated to be built on the Little Jackfish River. CN's main line runs along the property's southern boundary.
